Election Result

New Margin: LIB 3.0% (changed party)

(*) - The party status of this electorate has changed. See notes on redistribution below.

MP

The retiring Liberal MP is Pat Farmer, who has held the seat since 2001. Farmer lost a ballot for Liberal endorsement, having lost local support after his decision to move to Mosman, a long way from Macarthur, both physically and socially. Based on new electoral boundaries, Macarthur is now a notional Labor seat.

Profile

Macarthur covers 798 sq.km along the south-west edge of the Sydney metropolitan area. The majority of the electorate's population lives in Camden and the southern suburbs of Campbelltown, but the electorate also extends north to Wallacia and south to Appin and Wedderburn.

Redistribution

Loses Picton and the Oaks to Hume in the south, but moves towards Sydney, gaining parts of Blairmount and Woodbine from Werriwa, and areas around Austral and Badgerys Creek from Fowler. These changes wipe out the seat's narrow Liberal majority of 0.7%, creating an even narrower Labor majority of 0.5%.

History/Trivia

Macarthur was held by the party in government at every election from its creation in 1949 until the 2007 election, when the sequence was broken by Pat Farmer's re-election to the Opposition benches as the Rudd government was elected to office. The electorate is named after John Macarthur, an influential early settler and founder of the merino wool industry. Former members include Jeff Bates (1949-72), John Kerin (1972-75), Michael Baume (1975-83), Colin Hollis (1983-84), Steve Martin (1984-93) and John Fahey (1996-2001). Fahey was a former NSW Premier and served as Finance Minister in the first two terms of the Howard government. Before the 2001 election, Macarthur was radically re-drawn in a redistribution, losing large areas of the southern highlands and contracting to the south-west edge of Sydney. Fahey had been set to jump to neighbouring Hume, but surgery for lung cancer caused him to decide to retire instead. The Liberal Party chose well in its new candidate Pat Farmer, gaining an 8.7% swing at the 2001 election to gain a seat that had become notionally Labor held following the redistribution. Farmer increased his majority in 2004 but only just survived the swing to Labor at the 2007 election.

Assessment

Will be one of the more important local contests in Sydney.

2010 BALLOT PAPER (8 Candidates)

Candidate Name

Party

McCULLOCH, Kate Melissa

One Nation

BLEASDALE, Nick

Labor

CAMMARERI, Domenic

Building Australia

MATHESON, Russell

Liberal

NORSWORTHY, Nolene

Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group)

Di BLASIO, Jessica

The Greens

MEAD, Clinton

Australian Democrats

HERBERT, Grant

Family First

CANDIDATES

Nick Bleasdale

Australian Labor Party

Bleasdale is a 36 year-old self-employed carpenter who was the Labor candidate in this seat at the 2007 election. He came close to victory in 2007, attracting a swing of more than 10%, the largest in New South Wales.

Matheson is a Sergeant in the NSW police force, having served 23 years with the force. He has lived in the Macarthur region for most of his life and has served 17 years on Campbelltown Council, including five years as Mayor.